


Make Me Feel Alive

by stardropdream



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/F, Fem Keith (Voltron), Fem Shiro (Voltron), Femslash, Genderswap, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, Post-Season/Series 06
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:16:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23737462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardropdream/pseuds/stardropdream
Summary: It's rare for Shiro to go nonverbal. She’s used to being the one to fill the quiet whenever Keith gets unsettled, happy to punctuate the silence with small jokes or observations. She remembers, long before Voltron, how quiet Keith could get.Now, Shiro watches Keith strip down her armor, the sleek lines of the undersuit clinging to her body as she works, her hair a tumble of knots at the back of her neck— and Shiro can’t speak.Or: Shiro processes what's happened after waking up in her new body.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 37
Kudos: 212





	Make Me Feel Alive

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fukumiwarai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fukumiwarai/gifts).



> Fic request for [shirwhoa](https://twitter.com/shirwhoa), who asked for a post The Black Paladins fic for femsheith! Super excited to get a chance to write canonverse femsheith again!
> 
> And thank you to [Sarah](https://twitter.com/ailurea) for reading this over for me!

It's rare for Shiro to go nonverbal. She’s used to being the one to fill the quiet whenever Keith gets unsettled, happy to punctuate the silence with small jokes or observations. She remembers, long before Voltron, how quiet Keith could get.

Now, Shiro watches Keith strip down her armor, the sleek lines of the undersuit clinging to her body as she works, her hair a tumble of knots at the back of her neck— and Shiro can’t speak. 

Keith makes it look effortless and beautiful, lacking the self-consciousness in her body that Shiro remembers from so long ago. How Keith never seemed to understand her strength, or what it meant to find comfort in her own skin. Shiro can’t remember when she first noticed the change, but it’s obvious now: the way the confidence rolls off Keith in waves. 

Keith turns to look at her then, stepping easily into her space. She doesn’t ask before she reaches out to help Shiro with her armor, too. Shiro’s single remaining hand sits limp and dumb in her lap. She should do something, she thinks. She should move. She should help. She should say something, anything. 

Keith’s fingers are nimble and sure as she unhooks each plate of armor, exposing Shiro inch by inch. 

It’s such a simple act, Shiro thinks. Too caring, too kind. Far more than she deserves, after everything Shiro’s done to Keith, after everything they’ve been through. Shiro knows it serves neither of them, hardly serves the team, to think of herself as expendable, to think that she doesn’t deserve this kindness, but the thoughts overtake all else until it’s all she can focus on. 

She _doesn’t_ deserve kindness. 

Shiro doesn’t even realize she’s crying, still too silent, until Keith’s fingers touch her cheek. Startled, Shiro tries to blink them away, her breath coming out as a soft hiccup. She clenches her eyes shut, the tears slipping past her lashes and rolling down her cheeks.

“Shiro,” Keith whispers. 

The last of the armor is gone and, with it, the last of Shiro’s defenses. She feels herself crumble, too exposed sitting in the belly of the Black Lion. 

The weight crushes down on her— everything she’s done, everything she almost did, how it was almost too much, too late. All the things she’ll never be able to make up for. All the ways she’s failed. 

She’s not worth it. 

“Shiro,” Keith says again, not a demand for words, but calling to her all the same, like even now Keith is trying to bring Shiro home. 

Shiro doesn’t realize she’s spilling forward until she’s already moving, a cup overflowing, a vessel unfit to hold anything— no soul, no heart, nothing. She sinks against Keith even as she knows she doesn’t deserve to. 

“I’m _sorry_ ,” Shiro says, her voice cracking on the single word. She presses her face against Keith’s neck, trembling all over, and even the surety of Keith’s arms around her can’t anchor her. The two words feel like the first thing she’s said in years. 

Shiro’s not sure she’s ever going to like silence again, not after everything. If she’ll ever be able to stand it again.

Keith, at least, doesn’t say _it’s okay._ She only holds Shiro, and while everything in Shiro’s mind tells her she shouldn’t want it, that she doesn’t deserve it, her body rebels against the mere thought of pulling away from Keith. 

Keith’s hold on her is a steady anchor. In this, Shiro never had doubts: Keith never lets go. 

“Shiro,” Keith says.

“I’m sorry,” Shiro says again, voice and body shaking. It’s too much. 

Instead of saying what Shiro expects ( _it’s okay, I forgive you, don’t apologize_ ), Keith presses her forehead to the crown of Shiro’s head, cradling her close. 

“I love you,” Keith says— just like before, but quieter now, more serene. Nothing like the desperation she’d shouted at the clone facility, none of the words cracking in the pain manifested. 

There’s only the gentleness now, that tenderness that Keith has always shown her— all the ways she’s been soft on Shiro since the moment they met. When the rest of the world always got Keith’s rough edges instead, she was only ever kind to Shiro.

Shiro must make a sound. She’s sure she does. It hiccups out of her, rattling and punched-out. 

And Keith says it again. Quieter. Her lips dropped to the top of Shiro’s head, murmuring it against her temple. “I _love_ you, Shiro.” 

Even as Shiro thinks she should protest, she longs for the words. She sinks closer to Keith and lets Keith hold her. If she can be made unmonstrous, she wants it to be in Keith’s arms. 

“Even after what I—” 

“Even then.”

“But I almost—”

“Even then,” Keith says again. 

“But what if I’d—” 

“Even then,” Keith interrupts. “Always, Shiro. Forever.”

She says it so simply. And for Keith, maybe, it always has been simple. Maybe everything has always felt simple with Keith. 

Shiro clenches her eyes shut against the swell of tears that rise inside her like a tide. 

When she draws back to look at Keith, she sees the tears falling past Keith’s eyes, too. Her voice had been so steady that Shiro hadn’t realized. Shiro lifts her hand before she can question it, cupping Keith’s cheek. 

Her thumb touches the scar and for a terrified moment she fears she’s hurt Keith with the touch. But Keith’s expression wobbles into a little smile and she leans into it, tears spilling further.

“You’ve been through too much,” Keith whispers. And isn’t that just the way Keith is— to cry for Shiro’s sake rather than her own? Keith sucks in a sharp breath and lets it back out again. “You _never_ have to apologize to me… nothing else matters, if you’re here. With me.” 

“Keith—”

“Don’t go away again,” Keith says. She curls her fingers around Shiro’s wrist, anchoring her there. “If you’re here and we’re together, that’s all that matters. That’s all either of us need.” 

And when Keith says it, it feels true. Shiro breathes out, thinking she should resist, thinking that, no, no matter what, she will never deserve this kindness. 

But it’s the only thing she wants. Her thumb sweeps across the curve of Keith’s face, following the drag of her scar. Keith’s eyelashes flutter across her cheek as she leans against the touch, the last tear swiped away by the sweep of Shiro’s thumb. 

“You love me,” Shiro marvels, her voice quiet.

“I do,” Keith says. She smiles, small and hopeful. “… And you love me.” 

Shiro smiles back, helpless, and draws Keith close to breathe against her mouth, “I do. More than the universe itself, Keith.” 

Keith lets out a soft cry and yanks Shiro down, kissing her hard. 

_Always._ Shiro closes her eyes and kisses Keith back, letting the tears spill between them. _Forever._

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject) (including the [LLF Comment Builder](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/commentbuilder)), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates responses, including:
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>   * Short comments
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